Test glass holder

ABSTRACT

This invention has for its purpose to provide a test glass holder which consists of parts which may be easily assembled to units of any desired height and which units may be stacked upon each other to form bigger units or blocks. The construction permits easy access to the individual test glasses even when the test glass holders are stacked upon each other. The holders are in their assembled condition rigid and sturdy and the parts of the same take a minimum of space when they are disassembled.

United States Patent Bergquist et al.

[451 Aug. 8, 1972 [54] TEST GLASS HOLDER [72]. Inventors: Nils R.Bergquist, Sibyllegat 75, S- 114 43; Jan A. Soderholm, Vastmanagatan 77,S-113 26; Sven H. Skoldenlelt, Sturegatan 62, S-114 26, all ofStockholm, Sweden [22] Filed: Sept. 18, 1969 21 App1.No.: 858,955

[52] US. Cl. ..211/74, 46/17, 46/29,

108/110, 248/165 [51] Int. Cl ..A47b 73/00, B011 9/06 [58] .Field ofSearch ..211/85, 74, 148 US, 69, I77;

Butsch ..108/53 X Primary Examiner-Roy D. Frazier AssistantExaminer-Abraham Frankel Attorney-Linton & Linton ABSTRACT Thisinvention has for its purpose to provide a test glass holder whichconsists of parts which may be easi- [56] v Referencs Cited 1y assembledto units of any desired height and which UNITED STATES PATENTS units maybe stacked upon each other to form bigger units or blocks. Theconstruction permits easy access 2,293,098 8/ 1942 B861 ..211/69 omindividual test glasses even when the test glass 27,917,187 12/1959Bergkvrst ..108/107 holders are stacked p each m The holders are 870,681"/1907 Karges ..'...2l1/74 UX in their assembled condition rigid andSturdy and the 1,088,642 2/1914 Wilcox ..211/74 pans of the same take aminimum of space when they 1,512,867 10/ 1924 Sutter ..108/91 aredisassemble 2,303,294 11/1942 Wagner ..46/17 UX 2,376,670 5/1945 DiLieto..211/74 X 1 Claim, 7 Drawing Figures l' I I 'i' 'J 'JI IIW E L 1 .1.J|. J l 1 I I 1 I 5' PATENTEDAUG 81912 SHEEI l UF 2 IN VENTORSPATENTEDAUE 8 1912 saw 2 or 2 '2 nwenroes RHOL M nx ii us R. Emma/5r.IAN A. $005 sv H.SL/ B7- TEST GLASS HOLDER BRIEF SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION The present invention is concerned with holders for testglasses and has at least two plates of which the lowermost plate servesto support the test tube bottoms and the other plate has a pluralityholes which serve to guide the test tubes, at least three rods eachhaving intermediate axially spaced grooves, a bore in their uppermostend and a pin in their lowermost end, said plates and/or rods beingresilient and each of said plates having holes in side portions thereofwhereby said rod grooves can be brought into engagement with said plateholes.

DESCRIPTION:

The accompanying drawings illustrate some preferred embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a test glass holder and also shows indotted lines how holders may be stacked upon each other.

FIG. 2 is an end view of the test glass holder according to FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation, partly in section of a spacing element,forming part of the test glass holder according to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of one of the plates, which serve to guide thetest glasses.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of a modified securing means of aplate according to FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a section through a modified spacing element with attachedplates.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another modified spacing element.

Referring to the drawings the numeral 1 designates plates, preferablymade from transparent plastic material such as acrylic resin or thelike, and having a plurality of holes 2 (FIG. 4) serving to guide thetest glasses. The numeral 3 designates another plate which preferably isidentical to plates 1 but which has no holes and serves as a support forthe test glasses. In the sides of the plates 1 and 3 are provided cutout portions 4 (FIG. 4), which are intended to cooperate with spacingelements 5 to secure the plates in a parallel relationship. For thispurpose the spacing elements 5 are provided with at least two annulargrooves 6 each. The distance between said grooves determines thedistance between the plates in the assembled test glass holder. Thespacing elements are preferably made from a plastic material havingresilient properties such that a rigid connection is obtained betweenthe plates and said spacing elements when the latter are pressed againstthe plates with the grooves in alignment with the cut out portions. Itis obvious from the foregoing that the assemblage is very simple andonly consists of pressing the spacing elements against the sides of theplates. It will also be apparent that the test glass holder may be builtup to any desired height owing to the fact that each spacing element hasin its upper end portion a hole or recess 7 in which a downwardlydirected pin 8 of the spacing element placed thereupon may beintroduced. The lowermost pins 8 serve to rest against the shelf or thelike upon which the test glass holder is placed. It may be noted thateach spacing element according to FIG. 3 may be provided with three ormore grooves 6 which makes it possible to place the plates on anydesired height and in any desired number. The distance-between the endsof the spacing elements and the upper and lower plates gives easy accessto the individual test glasses even when the test glass holders arestacked upon each other.

In order to obtain a better grip it is of course also possible to letthe cut out portions have restricted areas 9 according to FIG. 5 suchthat the spacing elements are snapped in their cut out portions owing tothe resiliency of the plate or the spacing element.

FIG. 6 illustrates another embodiment, using a modified spacing element11. Said spacing element has horizontal flanges 12 and 13, intended tograsp the edge portion of the plates in question. The upper flanges 12may preferably be somewhat resilient while the lower flanges 13 arerigid. Projecting downwardly from flange 12 is a projection 14, which isreceived in a recess or a hole 15, provided in the plate, when thespacing element is attached to the plate in proper position. By means ofthese projections the spacing elemerits remain properly secured to theplates 1,3. Also such spacing elements may be provided with upper Irecesses 16 and lower pins for the purpose previously described.

FIG. 7 illustrates another modification of the spacing element. Thespacing element shown, which is generally designated 18 has tongues 19and 21, the free ends of which face each other. Such tongues are easilyproduced at the same time as the element in its entirety is produced byinjection molding by using interconnection coils. The tongues areresilient and are normally projecting over the surface of the elementbody. Below the upper tongue is provided a flange 20 and above the lowertongue is provided another flange 22 and the spacing element has also arecess 23 in its upper end and a pin in its lower end, said pin beingdesignated 24. All these details'of the spacing element are integralwith each other and are formed in one single operation, the injectionmolding. The distance between the free end of the respective tongue andits adjacent flange is equal to the thickness of the plate in question.

When assembling a test glass holder using spacing elements according toFIG. 7 the spacing elements are simply pressed downwardly towards anunderlying plate such that the lower portions of the same are introducedin corresponding holes. When the flange 22 comes into contact with theupper surface of the plate the tongue 21, which has been pressedinwardly by the plate, expands outwardly again and thus prevents anymovement of the plate in vertical direction relative to the spacingelement. The same function is obtained when a plate is lowered over theupper portion of said spacing elements but in this case the plate willcome to rest against the upper flange 20.

Many other modifications are of course possible within the scope of theappended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A test tube rack comprising in combination at least two plates ofwhich the lowermost plate serves to support the bottoms of the testtubes and the other plate has a plurality of holes of approximately thesame diameter as the test tubes and serve to guide said test tubes, andat least three support posts detachably connected to the sides of saidplates, each of said support posts being in the shape of a rod having acircular section and being provided intermediate its ends with at leasttwo axially spaced grooves the height of which are substantially equalto the thickness of the one of said plates with which it is tocooperate, each of said plates having in its side portions holes havingrestricted openings sideway of the holes, at least one of each of saidplates and support posts having resilient properties enabling said poststo be sideways brought into engagement with said plates by pressing saidposts with their

1. A test tube rack comprising in combination at least two plates of which the lowermost plate serves to support the bottoms of the test tubes and the other plate has a plurality of holes of approximately the same diameter as the test tubes and serve to guide said test tubes, and at least three support posts detachably connected to the sides of said plates, each of said support posts beiNg in the shape of a rod having a circular section and being provided intermediate its ends with at least two axially spaced grooves the height of which are substantially equal to the thickness of the one of said plates with which it is to cooperate, each of said plates having in its side portions holes having restricted openings sideway of the holes, at least one of each of said plates and support posts having resilient properties enabling said posts to be sideways brought into engagement with said plates by pressing said posts with their grooved parts into engagement with the holes in said plates via said restricted openings thereby overcoming the resistance of the restricted entrance openings, said rods each being in its upper end provided with a bore and in its lower end with a pin thus enabling several test tube racks to be stacked upon each other while resting upon the downwardly projecting pins of the lowermost rack. 